Book 1: Fearless
by fatecheat
Summary: Ba Sing Se has fallen to Azula. The Earth King has been hidden in a safe place. As the gang tries to gain back the advantage on the Fire Nation, a new power is revealed, and both sides will be hard pressed to stand against it. What I would have happen.
1. Chapter 1: Only in Your Dreams

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 1: Only in Your Dreams

He saw the enemy strike and knew that the attack would land exactly where the attacker intended for it too. He knew that the attack was fatal and that he had to do something, but what could he do against such an enemy. Sokka lay on the ground unconscious thirty yards away, rendered so by a single blow from the enemy near the beginning of the battle. Toph was helpless, tied hand and foot on the enemy's great beast. Zuko was in a giant crater that had ben created by a light that had come from the enemy's hand, and he hadn't moved since he came to rest there. Katara was the only one left standing. Aang, with his abilities as limited as they had become, could barely fight. Whenever he struck, a mind numbing pain would shatter his consciousness and leave him defenseless on the ground. That is exactly what had happened, and as he saw the light approach the chest, everything slowed, except for him, and he saw everything happen in slow motion. Then it all went black and he woke up in a cold sweat. Everyone was fine and they were all sleeping soundly on the ground next to him. He knew that something was wrong. He kept having this dream over and over again, always the same. He lay back down and went to sleep. He would tell Katara about it in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2: Contact

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 2: Contact

When everyone was awake they started their fly for the day. There was no destination. Where could the go? The Earth Kingdom had fallen and Azula was on the throne in Ba Sing Se. When they landed, each one went their own way to do their appointed task. While they were out Aang went after Katara. Ever since the tragedy in the Crystal Catacombs under Ba Sing Se, Aang and Katara had become romantically involved. Aang shared everything with her. So now he went to share his nightmare from the night before. He found her by a brooke in the middle of the field they were camped in. She was waterbending water into a pot for drinking water in the camp.

"Hey, Katara," said Aang.

She stopped her bending and turned to him.

"Hey, Aang. Are you okay? You've been acting strangely all day."

"I don't know."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah."

They walked over to a large rock and sat down together.

"I've been having this weird dream ever since leaving Ba Sing Se," he said. "We're having a fight with some guy I've never seen before. Everybody's hurt, except for you, and just as the guy's about to shoot with some kind of light that comes from his hand, everything slows down. Then it all goes black and I wake up."

Katara didn't know what to make of it. All she could do was comfort him. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and they walked back to the camp hand in hand.

I know that this story is kinda slow, but in the next chapter it will pick up and have a fight scene. Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3: Moonlit

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 3: Moonlit

They had made camp at the edge of the field they were staying in. Beyond the edge of the field was a dark forest. The trees were so dense that anyone could go from branch to branch without even having to jump. The branches were entwined in such a fashion that they formed a sort of path through them that people could walk along if they wanted to.

As Aang and Katara approached the camp, Aang started to get the feeing that they were being watched. When they got to the camp, the others were already back. Both said that nothing eventful had happened during their work, although Toph had thought she felt a slight tremor when they were all leaving camp. They dismissed it and started to get ready for sleep.

As they were climbing into their tents to go to sleep, Momo started going crazy.

"What's wrong, Momo," said Sokka.

Momo flew off into the woods. Everyone climbed out of their tents and looked at each other in confusion. A moment later a bolt of lightning came flying into the camp destroying the tent that Sokka and Katara had been in only moments before.

"Azula's here!" shouted Aang

And then she came flying into the camp from the path in the trees, fireballs flying everywhere. As Aang dodged the fire that was aimed at him and Toph erected stone shields to protect her from it, Katara bended the water from the drinking pot around her to block the fire coming toward her. As Azula fired over and over again, Katara noticed that some of the fireballs were not Azula's typical blue but red. After a moment of confusion, she realized what was wrong.

"Watch out for Zuko!" she cried.

But it was too late. Just as Aang dodged the last of Azula's fire. Zuko came from behind him and knocked him unconscious. With Aang out of the fight, the rest of the gang prepared to take on the dangerous siblings. Azula fired at Toph, who tried to block it with a stone wall. This did not work out how she had planned it and as the lightning collided with the stone, Toph was thrown backwards and landed on the ground with a loud crack. As Azula and Toph were engaged in battle, Katara took on Zuko. They began to fight with the whips of their respective elements just as they had in the Crystal Catacombs. And as before they were evenly matched. Katara saw that Azula had Toph beaten and began to panic, but then she had an idea. She did something that seemed totally irrational. She turned her water into a ball of ice and threw it into the ground. Zuko was so taken aback by this sudden turn of events in his favor he faltered and did not realize that Sokka had approached him from behind. With his boomerang, Sokka hit Zuko over the head, knocking him unconscious. Toph had built a stone wall around herself because she was unable to fight. The fall to the ground had broken her arm when she landed on it. Azula faced Katara and Sokka and began to shoot fire at each of them simultaneously.

As the fight raged on, Aang lay on the ground, having the dream in his unconscious state. But there was something different about it. As the conclusion of the dream approached, time froze and he had a decision to make. No matter what he did, someone was going to lose something he cared about very deeply, but what it would be was up to him. As he was about to make his decision, he woke up and entered the Avatar state. When he looked around things were looking good for him and his friends. Although Toph seemed to be injured, Katara and Sokka seemed to have Azula under control, and Zuko was lying on the ground unconscious. Then something happened that not one of them would ever forget.

OOOOOO!!! Cliffhanger. Hope you enjoyed the fight.


	4. Chapter 4: The Tide Began to Rise

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 4: The Tide Began to Rise

The camp sight suddenly exploded with light. As if out of nowhere, a boy appeared in the middle of the fight. He looked to be about Katara's age. He had blond hair that seemed to have light emanating from it. He held out his hand and a shaft of light shone out of it and shot out into the field. The beam hit the ground and exploded in a fireball larger than any that they had ever been seen before. Everyone stopped fighting and looked in awe at the newcomer.

"My name is Kayo. Which one of you has the power of lightning," he said.

Azula stepped forward confidently. Her hands started to move in the circular motion to create lightning. Kayo didn't even move as she fired at him. But when the lightning reached its target, he was no longer there. As they all looked in wonder at the empty spot where the boy had stood not half a second before, Azula felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and stumbled backwards. Standing there was Kayo, completely calm.

"Just because you control one of the most powerful forms of energy known to you, don't overestimate your power when you attack a new opponent. Since you are the only one whom I deem worthy of learning from me," he turned to the rest of them, "the rest of you will have to be eliminated.

His eyes lighted on Aang. He was in the avatar state, so there was no mistaking who he was.

_The Avatar, _Kayo thought. _This must be my lucky day._

"Tell me, Avatar. How many of the elements have you mastered?"

Aang looked at him. "I'm not going to tell you anything about me until you tell me about you. Who are you? _What_ are you?"

"Well said, Avatar. You are wise not to reveal knowledge that could be harmful in the hands of enemies. However, I am not willing to tell you about me, so I suppose I will not be learning about you. Very well then. You will be eliminated with the rest of your friends. Seeing how your in the avatar state, you might want to run away now. It would end the avatar cycle if I were to kill you."

"I'm not running," said Aang.

Kayo laughed. It was and evil laugh that, coming form a boy his age, it seemed out of place.

"Very well," he said, and with that he shot a beam at light at Aang.

For a moment, Aang's eyes and tattoos glowed a gold color instead of the typical white. He erected a stone shield in front of him and when the light hit it, there was an explosion that shook everyone else to the ground. But Aang and Kayo were still standing when the smoke cleared and Aang was glowing white again. Kayo looked a little surprised that Aang was still standing but didn't let it get to him. He shot another beam of of light at Aang, this time with a little more force. Aang started to glow gold again and located the water Katara had thrown into the ground. He pulled it up in front of him and the light was reflected off in another direction when it hit the water's surface. This time Kayo seemed truly angered that Aang was not down. He shot one of the most powerful beams of light he could muster at Aang. Still glowing gold, Aang put up an air shield. As the light hit the air, both the combatants were pulled toward the spot at a staggering speed. They met in the middle and collided headfirst. Both were knocked unconscious. Seeing the opportunity to flee, Katara gathered up Aang's limp body and called Appa, who had wandered off into the field for the night. Sokka told Toph to put down her stone shield and he carried her to Appa as he landed near them. Momo came flying out of the forest as fast as lightning when he saw Appa. They all climbed onto Appa's back and Katara called "Yip, yip" and he took off flying. As the battle scene dwindled in the distance, Katara looked back and saw Azula leaning over Kayo. She didn't see Zuko anywhere.

Thanks for reading. Please reply and tell me what you think. Especially tell me what you think of the new character and if you noticed anything else new.


	5. Chapter 5: Broken Hearts and Bodies

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 5: Broken Hearts and Bodies

When Aang finally started to wake up, he opened his eyes slowly. As he did he saw Katara's face, filled with fear and concern. It reminded him of the first time he had met her in the South Pole. They were still flying on Appa and the wind was whipping at her hair. A lock of it blew into her face. He brushed it away jokingly. She smiled with an expression of relief and then gave a short laugh. Aang tried to sit up, but an intense pain washed over him as he did so. He decided not to get up. Katara noticed his grimace and her face was again filled with concern.

"Are you okay, Aang," she said.

When he didn't answer, she knew that something was terribly wrong.

They flew on and on, not knowing what to do. Aang seemed to be badly hurt, Toph had a broken arm, and they had to consider a new problem that had presented itself. Kayo. Sokka found a good place to land and took Appa down to the place for the night. The clearing in the trees had a little brooke running through it. Everything was completely silent. There was no sound except for that of the brooke running on. They all climbed off of Appa's back and set up camp. Katara did the best she could to heal Toph's broken arm with her healing ability but when she couldn't completely heal it, they had to resort to more conventional methods and put a brace on it.

"Aww man. What am I supposed to do now. I can't bend half as well with just one arm," said Toph.

"I guess we'll just have to manage, for now. With the healing I applied to it, your arm should be better in a week," said Katara.

It seemed that Toph would not be able to use her bending to it's full extent for a while. All things considered, this was only a minor problem. Katara then turned her attention to Aang. He was lying on his back not moving. It looked like he wasn't even breathing. Katara walked up to him and examined him. Nothing seemed to be wrong with him. She had no answers as to why he was feeling so much pain. She did the best she could to sooth it with her healing, and then told him to go to sleep. He did so immediately.

Katara walked back to the others and sat down. She looked so sad and depressed. What could she do. With two people unable to fight and only her and Sokka left to face the new, incredible power of the boy, Kayo, the situation seemed hopeless. A single tear ran down her face and fell to the ground. With that she got up and went to her tent to sleep for the night.

Sokka and Toph were left by the fire by themselves.

"So. Now what. Twinkle Toes is hurt, Sugar Queen is having a mental breakdown, and I can barely bend," said Toph.

"Don't worry," Sokka said. "I'm sure we'll think of something."

"But what if we don't? What if this Kayo kid is more powerful than us? I've never had a broken arm before. I don't know how to fight good with just one arm."

"Toph, me and Katara won't let anything happen to you. Besides. I'm sure you'll figure out some way to bend when we have to fight again."

"If you say so. I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight, then."

With that Toph went to bed. Sokka was now by himself. His mind was flying, trying to find ways to fight Kayo. As far as he could see, their predicament was hopeless. Some new, unseen help would have to present itself for him to gain hope. Momo flew up and landed on his shoulder.

"Hey Momo. Your not depressed too, are you?"

Momo just stared at him for a minute and then laid some nuts in his hands.

"Thanks Momo. It's nice to know that not everyone is completely down."

Sokka sat by the fire all night, mulling over his possible plans should Kayo or Azula find them. When morning came, the sun found him asleep by the dwindling fire.

Hope you're enjoying this. All of these comments at the bottom are pre written so while I'm writing this I don't even know if this will get posted. Haha. Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6: Bout a Burning Fire

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 6: About a Burning Fire

He ran through the dark forest as fast as he could, not sure if he was being followed, but not wanting to stop to find out. When he couldn't run anymore, he stopped behind a tree to catch his breath. When he could breathe again, Zuko looked around the tree to see if he had been followed. No one was in sight. He listened as closely as he could to see if there was any sound that would give away the presence of a pursuer. After about half an hour of listening, he was satisfied that no one had followed him. He sat on the ground hard. It was a full day after the fight with the Avatar and his friends and since Azula had abandoned him to go with Kayo. Zuko's mind was filled with turmoil and confusion.

"How could Azula stay with that guy when he threatened me? I thought we were on the same side," he thought.

The question kept resonating through his mind, consuming him, forcing him to think about his decisions in the Crystal Catacombs.

"If Azula joined that guy, then she must not have cared what happened to me in the fight with the Avatar."

His thoughts turned to his uncle.

"Uncle. I let him down, just like I always do. AHHHH!!!"

He let out a scream and the birds flew from their nests in the trees.

He let his thoughts wander as much as he could, but somehow they always ended up on Iroh. Finally he acknowledged what he knew he must do.

"I have to get Uncle out of Ba Sing Se. But will he even talk to me after the way I betrayed him?"

Zuko did not know what to do with his doubt. He knew he had to get Iroh out of prison, but he was afraid of confronting him after what had happened under Ba Sing Se. He got up and started walking back the way he had come, back toward Azula and Kayo.

"Hopefully, they'll be gone when I get there," he thought. "I can't fight them both, especially not this Kayo kid. Who is he, anyway."

That question was one that would have to wait to get an answer. Possibly Iroh might know. In any case, Zuko still had to break him out of Ba Sing Se. As he approached the sight of the battle from the night before, he slowed down and stopped. Nothing was moving in the clearing, so he approached it cautiously. When he was out in the open and nothing had happened, he decided that nothing would happen.

Zuko looked around to get his bearings on where he and Azula had come from while chasing the Avatar. When he spotted the right direction, he took off running. It had taken them three days to get from Ba Sing Se to this clearing, so Zuko knew that he had a long trip ahead of him.

After two days of running through the wilderness, Zuko was tired and dirty, but he made better time then when he was with Azula. He could already see the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. As he approached it, he made sure that none of the guards saw him. Even though the Fire Nation had taken over Ba Sing Se, Zuko wasn't sure if Azula had come back and put the guards on alert for him. He looked for the spot where the drill that Azula had used to try and break into the city was. When he found it, he was relieved to find that the drill had been backed out and that the giant hole was still there. He climbed through and began the long trek to the inner wall of the city. He didn't have any plan on how to get inside the city, but he would have to think of something if he wanted to save his uncle. When he was about half way there, he ran out of energy. He found the most sheltered spot he could and lay down to sleep for the night.

This is for those who wanted to know what happened to Zuko. I hope this answers some questions. However, I will not answer the question of how Zuko ends up with Aang. Hope this tides the Zuko fans over for a while, cause the next chapter has to do with Kayo and who he is.


	7. Chapter 7: Lose Yourself

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 7: Lose Yourself

Kayo was fuming.

"I have never been so humiliated in my life," he screamed. "How could the mere Avatar have gotten away like that?"

Azula just stood there. They were on an island somewhere in Lake Laogai. She did not like her new master, but she didn't want to get him mad at her, so she didn't say anything. He was so powerful. She hadn't liked him since the moment he interfered with her attempt to capture the Avatar. But she also knew that she couldn't beat him in a one on one fight. She would have to stick with him until he taught her enough so that she could defeat him.

When her thoughts returned to the present, Kayo was still raving about how he was supposed to be the most powerful being on the planet. It was true. Azula had never seen so much power come out of one person like when Kayo had shot the hillside with light. She was still trying to figure out if the light was a type of forgotten firebending technique or if it was a new kind of bending that could be taught to anyone. In either case, she intended to learn this new ability and destroy Kayo with it. Then she would get back to chasing the Avatar. Her only concern was that Zuko had disappeared. With him out on his own, she would have to worry about Zuko capturing the Avatar first, and if he broke Iroh out of Ba Sing Se, it might become difficult to capture the Avatar first.

Kayo was looking at her. She immediately left her private thoughts behind.

"So," he said, "shall we begin your training."

She bowed slightly and answered grudgingly, "Yes, Master."

"Very well then. First you must learn what the ability I am going to teach you is, and where it comes from. It is called lightbending. More precise then lightning, and far more powerful. Lightbending is not firebending, as you might have supposed. Light often emanates from fire, that that is not it's only source. Have you noticed how the Avatar glows in when he enters the Avatar state.

"Of course," she said, rolling her eyes.

"That is the kind of light that lightbending uses. Spiritual light. To master it you must give up something I suppose you probably think you can't give up."

"I can give anything I own up. No possessions are more valuable than power," she said.

He laughed at her. She didn't like it at all. No one had ever laughed at her and gotten away with it before. Her anger began to boil, but she suppressed it, remembering Kayo's power.

"That's not what I meant," he said when he finally stopped laughing. "You must give up something you didn't know you could give away. You probably think it is a permanent part of who you are."

She looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"You see, you must give up something that has been a part of you your entire life."

She still didn't get it and he began to laugh at her again. Once again the rage began to boil, but she suppressed it.

He stopped laughing and looked at her with a serious look on his face.

"You must give up your ability to firebend," he said.

I'm just going to leave it at that for right now. Hope this answers some questions about what Kayo is. As for who he is, the answer will come in time. Thanks for reading and please leave replies letting me know what you think.


	8. Chapter 8: Falling Inside the Black

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 8: Falling Inside the Black

The dream did not come this time. Aang did not see Kayo. In fact he didn't see anything. There was nothing but total darkness. As he reached out in front of him, he saw his hand, but beyond that there was nothing. It was like standing on the ribbon road while trying to unlock his last chakra. The only difference was that there were no stars, there was no road, and there was no giant version of himself. He stood there for a long time not knowing what to think about this place in his dreams. It was odd because he knew that he was dreaming. At first he thought he was just having some very strange dream with no meaning. But as time went by and he didn't wake up, he began to question his first interpretation. He began to try to wake himself, but to no avail. Nothing he did would wake him.

Suddenly a bright light shone around him. He took a fighting stance and looked around. But there was no one.

"You don't need to do that," said a voice. It was like the voice of a young child, innocent and yet somehow filled with age and wisdom.

Aang spun around, looking for the source of the voice. He saw nothing.

"You can't see me," the voice said again. "I'm not going to reveal myself to you. You aren't ready."

"Who are you? WHAT are you?" said Aang, repeating the words he had spoken to Kayo, no more than two days ago.

The voice laughed. It was a laugh filled with joy and peace. "Your not ready for that either," it said. "But don't worry, I'll tell you in time."

"Well, can you tell me what I'm doing here? I've been stuck in this place for a long time and I can't wake up."

The voice laughed again. It said in a voice full of laughter, "You can't wake up because I'm not letting you. I have something important to tell you." The voice suddenly became serious. "It is very important for you to understand that you died in the Crystal Catacombs. Because Katara had water from the spirit oasis, the spirits were able to heal your body by focusing their energy through it. However, they were not able to heal your Avatar Spirit. Because of this, you are not able enter the Avatar State without your body being drained of most of its energy. That is why you were in such pain when you woke after the battle with Kayo."

"Okay. How do I fix this," said Aang.

"You can't. It is now a permanent part of who you are. But thats not what I kept you here to talk about. While fighting Kayo, you entered the Avatar State, but then you went one step further. And that one step further is why you are here."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Aang interrupted. "How do you know so much about me? I've never met you before, but you seem to know my entire life."

The voice giggled a little. "That will be explained when you are ready to know who and what I am," it said. "But at the moment you aren't ready for this knowledge."

"Come on. I'm not just going to sit here and listen to you if aren't going to tell me how you know so much about me," said Aang.

For a moment, there was complete silence. Then the voice sighed. "Very well. I will give a kind of explanation of what I am, though I can't give a good one in words you would understand. I am sort of like a spirit, though not exactly. And I am the 'spirit' who watches over the Avatar."

Aang just stood there, mulling over the explanation the 'spirit' had given him. After a short time he said, "Fine. I'll listen to you for a while. But I expect you to give a better explanation later."

The voiced giggled again.

"Okay. Now that we have that behind us, I suspect that you are ready to learn how you held Kayo off," said the voice. Aang nodded. "Lets begin."

"When you engaged Kayo in the Avatar State, you triggered an effect that only one in a hundred Avatars ever discover. You entered the second stage of the Avatar State. You entered the Time Bending State."

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought I should give an explanation of what happened to Aang's Avatar Spirit, so heres my version of what happens. Leave me a reply.


	9. Chapter 9: Silence

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 9: Silence

Aang woke up slowly. He sat up and looked around groggily, wondering where he was. He was sitting on Appa's tail, the place where he typically slept now. When he stood up and winced in pain, he remembered that he had been in a fight with some boy that he didn't know. Then he remembered his dream. If you could call it a dream. The whole thing seemed so real. He remembered every detail of what the voice had taught him about the so called "Timebending State". The whole thing still seemed kind of crazy to him. But then again, there was no other explanation as to how he had held of the boy.

The boy. His name was Kayo, Aang remembered. Nothing he knew would answer the questions that he had about Kayo. He thought of the battle. Kayo had bended light at him.

"How could he bend the light," Aang thought.

It was like nothing he had ever seen.

He put his private thoughts on hold as the others began to wake up. Sokka was sleeping beside a now extinguished fire.

"Did he sleep there all night," thought Aang.

He shook his head, smiling at the thought.

Katara was the first wake and immediately took notice that Aang was standing. She looked surprised and concerned. She ran up to him and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then she looked him in the eyes, a question written in her own.

"I'm fine," said Aang. "And I know what was wrong."

He explained to her about his dream and what the "spirit" had told him. However, he left out the facts about the Timebending State. Just before he had awoken, the "spirit" had told him not to let anyone know about it. He didn't like keeping secrets from Katara, but he had to obey the spirit if he wanted to master the Timebending State and defeat Kayo.

Toph was the next to wake up. She saw that Aang was walking, walked up to him, and gave him a good punch in the arm. As always it hurt.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Twinkle Toes," said Toph.

"Good to be back," he said.

"So are you better, or am I dreaming that you're walking around?" she asked him.

So he delved into the story of his dream again, but once again he left out the part about the Timebending State. Toph was more skeptical about the relevance of his dream, but then again, she was more skeptical about pretty about everything.

When Sokka woke up, he saw that Aang was standing with Toph and Katara and said hi. But that was it. He was too preoccupied with trying to improve upon his plans from the night before to really care all that much about how everyone was doing.

As the next few days flew by, everyone was unusually quiet. None of them could quite figure out what to say. When darkness came on the fifth day since their fight with Kayo, they all went to sleep without a word. But the night would not stay silent with them. As the darkness became complete, light suddenly shone everywhere around them.

Major cliffy. Hope you can figure out what's going on. If you can't, go back and read chapter four. It might explain something. That's the only hint you get.

Just a warning. Then next couple of chapters will go back from the five days I jumped at the end of this chapter and cover what Zuko, Iroh, Azula, and Kayo have been doing. So I guess you'll have to keep reading if you want to know what happens to Aang and his friends. Muah hahahahah (evil laugh). Just kidding. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	10. Chapter 10: The Coldest Heart?

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 10: The Coldest Heart?

As Zuko approached the inner wall of Ba Sing Se, he glanced at the upper-most portion to see if any guards or Dai Le were in sight. When he didn't see anyone, he began to run around the wall, looking for any kind of entrance. Nothing. He ran off and on all day, with short rest periods interspersed between the runs, yet he didn't find anything. By the time twilight fell across the land, he hadn't even run a quarter of the way around the wall.

"How am I supposed to save Uncle if I can't get into the city?" he thought.

Zuko looked up. A single star shone in the sky. It made him think of his mother. She had loved the stars. A tear fell down his face. He missed her. Even if he wouldn't admit it to others, he truly did.

As these thoughts of his mother passed through his mind, he fell into a gaping hole in the ground. He let out a short yell, then immediately silenced himself. Glancing up toward the top of the wall, Zuko noticed that a guard had stopped to look over the edge of the wall, searching for the source of the sound. Luckily for Zuko, it was dark enough for the guard to not see him.

He looked around at his new surroundings. The hole seemed to be a tunnel leading into the city, but whether or not it actually did was unknown to Zuko. He was faced with a difficult decision. To follow the tunnel and risk the possibility of becoming hopelessly lost, or continue on his trek around the wall of Ba Sing Se with no hope of ever finding an entrance.

After a moment of indecision, he decided to follow the tunnel. He lit a fire in his palm, just as Iroh had taught him. The light from his flame illuminated at least five yards in all directions around him. There was nothing to see. Just rocks and tunnel walls. Then the tunnel split off in two different directions. Zuko had no idea which path to take. Beside the path to the left there was a statue of a dragon, painted blue, and beside the path to right was a dragon painted red.

Zuko sat down. He had no hope now. There was no way for him to decide which path to take. He decided to take a nap. Maybe after some sleep, his mind would clear and he could choose which way to go.

SLEEP.

Zuko's thoughts raced to a nightmare he had had during his sickness after letting the Avatar's sky-bison go. He was the firelord and two dragons were around him. One, a blue one, to his left, and one, a red one, to his right. The two dragons were each trying to convince him to take their own advice. The blue dragon had a voice like Azula's and the red dragon had a voice like Uncle's.

"Could it possibly have been a prophetic dream," thought Zuko.

He had heard of times when sages would have dreams foretelling the future so they could help the Avatar, but never of someone like him having one.

He had nothing else to go on, so he decided to take the path to the right, the path with the statue of the red dragon. He walked for a long time. Minutes turned to hours, and still he didn't reach the end of the tunnel.

"Maybe that dream wasn't prophetic," he began to think.

Then he saw a new light, much brighter than the one put out by his own small flame. He let it go out and advanced toward the new light. When he reached the source, he gasped and fell to his knees.

I'm gonna leave it at that for now. Don't worry. The next chapter will continue with Zuko's story. I'm not going to be home for the next couple of days, and I might not have internet access where I'm going. So don't fret if I don't post for the next couple days. I haven't forgotten about this. Chapter eleven should be out by next tuesday, february 13 at the latest. Hope you can wait that long.

Random quote from the show

Aang: "No worries. I clean up easy."

_Airbends fruit drink off him_

Professor Zeah (or something like that. The professor from Ba Sing Se.): "Uhh. Your a living relic."

Aang: "Thanks. I try."

Professor: "An air nomad. Right in front of me."


	11. Chapter 11: Who I Am Hates Who I've Been

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 11: Who I Am Hates Who I've Been

There in front of him were the Crystal Catacombs where he had helped Azula defeat the Avatar and his friend. And where he had betrayed Uncle. With conflicting emotions running high, he walked down into the cavernous catacombs.

There were still evidences of the battle that had happened here not long ago. There were fragments of crystals scattered here and there, burn marks on the walls, and holes in the ground where the Avatar had earthbended against him. There were even some puddles left from the flood that Katara had used to race to Aang's rescue.

The thoughts of Katara made him feel guilty. She had offered to heal his scar, or at least try to, at a personal loss to herself. But even that had not been enough to make him turn his back on his country, his family. But now they had all turned their back on him, even Uncle. And it was all his own fault. He had had a chance to have friends. But he had made the wrong decision again.

That was all in the past. He was here to make up for those mistakes. At least the ones against Uncle.

He had made it into the city, but now he had nowhere to go. He couldn't earthbend, so there was really no way to get into the modern city by going up. He could perhaps try to find a path leading to the surface, but the chances of that were slim to none.

Still walking, he began to notice that not all of the dark spots on the walls were completely still. One was moving with him, almost like it was watching him. He didn't show any outward sign of his disgust. It was obviously a Dai Le agent, but had Azula sent him? Did he know that Azula had turned on him? Only one way to find out.

"HEY!!!" Zuko shouted to the shadow on the wall.

It stopped moving but no one answered him. It was only then that he noticed that the moving shadow was just that, a shadow. Relief came over him. It was just his own shadow. He sat down.

But the shadow did not sit with him. It grew bigger as the person who cast it approached him. Zuko stood quickly and turned around. As he did, he was engulfed in a great bear hug.

It was Uncle Iroh. Zuko just stood there, not knowing what to do. Iroh released him, place his hands on Zuko's shoulders, and looked him in the eye. After a few seconds of just looking at each other, Zuko understood that his uncle had forgiven him.

His ego couldn't take it. He collapsed on the ground. Spasms ravaged his body over and over again as he cried his heart out. All the years of pent up emotion, all his sadness, came out all at once. His grief over the loss of his mother. The humiliation of failing to capture the Avatar. The shame of his scar. He let it all out.

When he gained control of himself again, Zuko looked at his uncle and said, "Thank you Uncle. I feel...better."

After having such an emotional experience, he didn't know what to say. All he could think of was how grateful he was for his uncle's forgiveness. Then he remembered what he was doing here in the first place.

"Uncle. We need to get out of here. Azula betrayed me."

"You sound surprised at that. I could have told you that she would. But tell me. What did she do to betray you?"

"Well, we went after the Avatar's friends. Apparently the girl used her healing ability to heal him, because when we found them, he was still alive. So we started to fight them. But in the middle of the fight, this boy appeared. He said he was going to train Azula and eliminate the rest of us. So I ran away and came to find you."

"I see. And who was this boy that was going to train Azula?" Iroh asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen him before. He said his name was Kayo."

When Zuko said that name, Iroh looked surprised and alarmed, but the expression quickly passed. They quickly went out the way Zuko had come in. Once outside, they made sure none of the guards were in view, and then they stared the long run to the outer wall.

Hope you all enjoyed that. I've had a major case of writer's block recently. Hopefully it won't take me so long to write chapter 12. Please reply.

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;) Author of Fearless ;) marquee 

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Random Quote

Katara: You can't keep us here. Let us leave!

King Bumi: Lettuce leaf? (eats a piece of lettuce)

Sokka: We're in serious trouble here. This guy is nuts.


	12. Chapter 12: Masterpiece Conspiracy

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 12: Masterpiece Conspiracy

"No, no, NO!! You're doing it wrong. You just point and let the energy flow."

Kayo was trying to teach Azula lightbending, but things were moving slowly. She couldn't seem to let go of her native bending. Her pride wouldn't let her.

Her entire life, Azula had been hailed as the great firebending prodigy of the age, and now she was just supposed to give up everything she worked so hard to learn. She was particularly angry that she would not be able to bend lightning anymore. That was one of the most coveted abilities in the entire Fire Nation. But to defeat Kayo, she had to learn his style of fighting, and she would to give it up. So she would keep trying until she got it right.

Becoming bored of trying to teach Azula, Kayo decided to leave her to her own devices.

"You are worthless," he said. "You are now on your own. You have the knowledge of how to become a lightbender. The rest is up to you. You will never see me again, so your little plans of betraying me with my own powers won't be working."

With that he disappeared in a flash of light.

Azula was shocked, but she didn't let it show. She just turned around and destroyed the nearest tree with a bolt of lightning. It was only then that she realized what Kayo had been trying to teach her. She didn't have to give up her long practiced for technical skill, but only the way that she focused her energy. She began her lightningbending technique again, but this time instead of separating the positive and negative energies like she usually did, she just let the energy flow out of her.

The light that emanated from her fingers was not lightning, just pure light, the spiritual energy that Kayo had described to her. It left her fingers exactly the way it had left Kayo's hand, at a staggering speed. It hit a rock and caused an enormous explosion. After performing her newfound technique, she fell to her knees, her body drained of most of it's energy.

"WOW," she thought. "That was the most amazing power I have ever felt."

Only then did it dawn on her what this implied. She jumped to her feat and began the technique again. In the end, when nothing happened, Azula knew that Kayo's words were true. She had given up her ability to firebend in any form ever again.

She didn't really regret having made this decision. It was just a shame that she couldn't keep both of these types of bending. No matter though. Now that Kayo was gone, she no longer had to worry about eliminating him. Her only concern was capturing the Avatar. But where to start looking. She had no idea. Her only thoughts were to go to Omashu. If she recalled correctly, the Avatar was friends with the crazy king there. Maybe he would try to free King Bumi again. Although this wasn't a very good lead, it was the only one she had to go on. She set out on her long journey from Lake Laogai to the city of Omashu.

"Finally, she got it," said Kayo, speaking to nobody but himself. He was pleased that his plan had worked. Now that he had trained a new lightbender, his final matter of business was eliminating his former student.

Long before, Kayo had tried to teach a young firebender lightbending. But the boy had given up before finishing training. The thought of losing his firebending abilities was too terrible of a consequence for him. He had run away from Kayo, taking with him every bit of knowledge on how to become a lightbender, but not opting to use this knowledge.

Kayo had let him go, assuming that the boy would never choose to learn lightbending. He had been right. The boy had grown and aged. At this point, the boy had become a man, quite aged at that. Kayo knew exactly how to locate him. Destiny is a funny thing, for it just so happened that this new student of his was the young niece of his former student.

I am so sorry this chapter took so long to write. I just couldn't think of where to go with Azula and Kayo. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I will not take so long on chapter 13. I now have a definite idea of where book one is going, and how it's going to end.

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:) Author or Fearless :) marquee 

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Random Quote

Toph: What are you doing here, Twinkle Toes?

Aang: How'd you know it was me?

Sokka: Don't answer to Twinkle Toes. It's not manly.

Katara: Your the one who's bag matches his belt.


	13. Chapter 13: Whispers in the Dark

Book 1: Fearless

Chapter 13: Whispers in the Dark

As they traveled across the country, Zuko and Iroh began their training again. Iroh was trying to teach Zuko how to bend lightning again, but just like last time, Zuko couldn't do it. There was still the turmoil in his heart that would not let him perform the technique. His form was flawless, yet he couldn't separate the positive and negative energies. Yet he kept trying.

After traveling for days they reached a forest. The road led through it, so they stuck to the highway and entered the trees. As the day went by, the clouds began to gather and, by nightfall, the rain had begun to fall in sheets. The two travelers ran through the forest, seeking any kind of shelter they could find. When nothing presented itself, they found the closest knit set of trees they could find and sat under them. The branches didn't provide much relief from the rain, but it was better than nothing.

The rain stopped in the middle of the night, and Zuko and Iroh were able to get some sleep before daylight broke upon the land. The morning light was not welcomed cheerfully by either of them.

The travel this day was abnormally quite. As they walked along the path, Iroh began to notice this. The birds were silent, almost like they weren't even there. Other wildlife also seemed to be absent from the area.

After walking for about an hour, the two travelers started to hear voices. At first each thought that he was becoming delusional. But when the voices didn't go away, they began to give each other tentative looks, wondering if the other was hearing the voices too. After a few minutes of this behavior, Iroh could not stand it any longer.

"Zuko. Do you hear voices."

"Yes," Zuko replied. "But where are they coming from."

They began to veer toward the direction the voices were coming from. After walking for about half an hour and still not getting to the source of the voices, they began to wonder if there really was anyone out there. Yet there was no escaping the fact that they were both hearing the voices.

Their walk became slower and slower as they traveled, for fear of accidentally falling upon the source of the voices. Eventually they saw what looked to be a clearing in the trees. They approached the area and peered through the underbrush surrounding the clearing. They were astonished by what they saw.

There sitting in the middle of the clearing was the Avatar's sky-bison, and on the ground next to him were the Avatar and his friends. The voices seemed to be coming from the group, but their mouths were not moving.

Zuko and Iroh both sat back, completely caught off their guard by this sudden and unexpected turn of events. They looked at each other wide eyed and wordless. After a few minutes they slowly crawled away from the clearing to talk out of hearing range of the Avatar.

"Uncle, how did this happen?" Zuko exclaimed. "How did we end up running into the Avatar in all this open wilderness. That's...impossible."

"Apparently not, Prince Zuko. But I wonder how we were hearing their voices when they were not talking. That is what seems difficult to believe to me. Perhaps we were hearing their thoughts or the cries of their spirits, although why we would hear them is a mystery."

They just sat there in silence, once again pondering how this had come to pass. But their thoughts were interrupted by a sudden turn of events. As darkness completely covered the land, a bright light erupted from the clearing behind them.

Hope you enjoyed that chapter. I said before that chapter 13 wouldn't take as long as 12, and I kept my word. I will definitely not take as long as chapter 12 did ever again. Well, be on the lookout for chapter 14 in the not too distant future. And now I leave you with a quote.

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:) Author of Fearless :) marquee 

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Aang: Master. I need to learn firebending.

Jeong Jeong: Only a fool seeks his own destruction.

Aang: I'm the Avatar. It's my desti...

Jeong Jeong: DESTINY!!?? What would a boy know of destiny? If a fish lives its whole life in a river, does he know the river's destiny? No! Only that it runs on and on, out of his control. He may follow where it flows, but he cannot see the end. He cannot imagine the ocean.


End file.
